A way back Home
by dieLuka
Summary: After an accident with the quantum mirror SG1 is stranded in another universe. This is a world without adult, a world where children form a new and ever changing society. See how SG1 struggles, as they try to find their way back home.
1. A new World

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor The Tribe or anything associated with it.

A/N: You can read this Story even if you do not know The Tribe as the reader will be introduced to the Tribe World at the same time as SG1. I also like to thank Product Of A Sick Society and

ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter.

* * *

Tic ..Tock

Sam looked up at the Clock before she once more concentrated on her experiment. SG-1 had a mission today but there was still enough time to finish her work.

"Sergeant Murphy please increase the energy input by five." Her lab assistant nodded and went over to the terminal to change the energy input of the quantum mirror.

"Interdimensional matrix is stable Sir, ehhh M'am." Sam smiled. Murphy was a good Soldier, and a passable Lab assistant. If it weren't for her clumsiness, she would have been promoted long ago.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

"Carter!" Jack barked from the doorway, where he had been standing, for god knows how long, dressed in his mission gear carrying his pack on the back and Carter's in his hand.

"Hello, sir. Daniel, Teal'C." Sam replied absent-mindedly, gesturing her Team to enter. She was too busy monitoring energy fluctuations in the Quantum Mirror to pay attention to a bored Jack at the moment. "Please don't touch anything." She addet as an afterthought.

"What'cha doin', Carter?" Jack inquired as he peered at some equipment. On the table beside the apperatus he was interested in was the Quantum Mirror remote. Sam looked up just as Jack was going to touch the delicately calibrated equipment.

"Stop!" she barked. Jack quickly backed up, spreading his hands wide in a 'who me?' gesture as he did so. Unfortunately, this had the result of knocking the remote to the floor right behind Daniel, who was in the process of stepping backwards.

A crunch was heard as Daniel stepped on the remote and overbalanced. Trying to stay on his feet he started to stumble backwards, through the inconveniently placed Quantum Mirror.

Reacting quickly Jack let Sam's pack fall while he grabbed Daniels hand…and lost his balance as well. For a moment the Mirror was flickering and a low crackling noise, one that was slowly increased in volume, was heard.

For a second nobody moved.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

"Tell the General what happened!" Sam called to Sergeant Murphy as she grabbed her pack with the left hand, and raced to the Quantum Mirror, followed by Teal'C.

Once more the Mirror flickered followed by a loud crack. Then there was nothing, as the Mirror was no longer active.

Sergeant Murphy blinked. She looked at the Mirror and blinked;then, she looked at the remote and back at the Mirror.

"The General's not going to like this." The Sergeant said to the empty room. She sighed and hurried off to get it over with. Why did such things always happen when she was working?

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

Jack and Teal'c quickly were back on their feet, scanning the surrounding area for enemies and fast exits. It was, for the lack of a better term, a battle reflex honed by years of Gate travel. Samantha and Daniel were on their feet just as quickly but their sole attention was on the Mirror or more specifically on the deactivated Mirror.

"Sir, we may have a problem." The Major started, looking through the sparsely decorated grey concrete room before focusing on her CO. "The signal feedback caused a backlash in the circuits of the Quantum mirror, and because of this the Interdimensional matrix collapsed

"English Carter, English"

"Because of the destroyed remote the mirror shut down. So if we do not find this universes equivalent we are stranded."

Daniel had guessed that the moment he saw the mirror, but hearing it said was a whole other thing. "Fuck." He mumbled to low to be heard by his Teammates.

"Peachy, just peachy. Carter, Daniel, search the area. T," Jack waved his hand in the general direction of the Jaffa's forehead, "Do something about this, the last thing we need is a shitload of attention."

"I do not believe this to be necessary O'Neill." Teal'C said, while indicating to a Newspaper that rested on a nearby table. "If this Newspaper is correct, the whole adult Population of this world is dead."

Daniel scanned the pages. "It's about one and a half years old. If someone survived, they would have been here in the meantime."

"So we are the only Humans on this godforsaken earth. Great, just great."

"Not necessarily sir." Sam looked around the room once more before focussing solely on her CO "If the Newspaper article is correct, it only affected the adults, it is quite possible for the children to be alive, maybe even for those who reached adulthood after the virus struck."

This revelation changed everything. Disguising Teal'C and blending in till they found a way to get back, a standard operation procedure when stranded on a foreign and possible hostile world, was no longer possible.

"Ok Guys, here's the plan." Jack said, "We have MRE's, Munitions and Equipment for a two week Mission. I have also packed six Twinkies." Daniel and Sam gave him a look that all but screamed 'seriously?' "We are not all as diplomatic as Danny here, and it is a legitimate way of bribing the natives." He said as if it was the most logical of reasons, "Anyhow has anyone else packed additional stuff?"

"I have not O'Neill." Teal'C answered.

"Well I've got my allergen-desensitising treatment and—" Daniel started to blush. "Condoms. Janet thought it a good idea to distribute them among the people of P3X-981."

"Carter?"

"Nothing, Sir."

"So we have at least Twinkies, and Condoms to trade."

Jack stated while Daniel was fighting down his blush and Carter tried not to rolled her eyes as he stated the obvious.

"Carter, Daniel you two scout the area. We need to know if the City is inhabited, who's in charge and so on. You know the spiel. T and I are going to secure this facility, so we can use it until we find a strategically favourable base of operation." With a nod from Daniel and a 'Yes, sir' from Sam, both went outside, leaving their backpacks behind as they would hinder a possible fast retreat.

Through the Newspaper they already knew that they were in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, with the mirror being located beneath the "Wellington Hospital."

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

Leaving the Hospital through the front entrance Daniel noticed that the area was quite industrialised for a suburb area. And it was dirty, that he could tell without problem, even though the sun was still rising. Old newspaper, burned out trashcans and thrown out furniture decorated the street, with all kinds of graffiti smeared over house - and stone walls.

Daniel looked closer at a few of the symbols that were sprayed with seemingly every colour of the rainbow on seemingly every wall, before he took his Dictaphone and began to talk.

"Recurring names and symbols indicate gang or tribe-like alliances among the surviving population." He said. Sam waved him over to show him a tattered city map she found in one of the burned out cars littering the street, divided into sectors, most likely used to aid the evacuation during the virus outbreak.

"The recurring number 15 matching the one used for this area during the outbreak indicates that the sector system was assimilated by the tribes. It is to be expected that different sectors are ruled by different tribes, with this area's ruler being" He looked at the recurring name sprayed on the wall,"The 'Tribe Circus.' "

Sam signalled Daniel to hold the Dictaphone in her direction.

"The buildings all show signs of vandalism and the shops we came across were striped of food, drinks, make-up and costume jewellery, while medicine and dietary supplement had been left. They obviously weren't schooled in what to take, and only took what looked useful. Most of the burn marks seem old so we can assume that most of the vandalism was done during the virus outbreak or shortly after the adults died." Sam added while entering a store through the destroyed window front. It had once been a tourist office and as such it had little to no value for the children, which left it in a better shape than most shops around. Daniel deactivated the Dictaphone and started looking around, before taking a tourist city map lying around, that was more in detail than the sector map they already had.

Taking a plastic bag from behind the counter, Sam began to fill it with paper she took out of the printer and ball-pens with a Wellington logo on it.

Among the souvenirs they also found a deck of cards as well as some scarfs and hoodies.

The 'I love NZ' hoodies where anything but fashionable and most kids wouldn't be caught dead in them but at least the hood would help them disguise their age a bit.

Sam looked up at the Morning sky; their watches still ran on SGC time, so she had to guess how late or, in their case, early it was. "We should go back Daniel. The kids will not sleep forever and the later we are the higher are the changes to encounter them."

They left the shop through its window, as the door was looked, returning to the Hospital when Sam caught the glimpse of a person, most likely a boy or a young girl, she couldn't tell from the distance, attempting to hide himself in the shadows..

"We are being followed. One on our left and two behind us." whispered Sam, and Daniel, after subtly looking around, nodded. He had not noticed them before but once he knew they were there it was painfully easy to spot them.  
A stone flew in his direction and he barely avoided being hit, they now could no longer pretend to not notice them. Sam faced the two behind them while Daniel faced the one to their left. Both SG1 members had their guns drawn but this was more out of reflex than the actual intention to shoot. Nevertheless the Kids, two boys and a small girl, didn't know that, so it didn't take long for them to come out of the shadows.

"Adults, tell us how you survived." One of the boys rudely ordered them.

Sam and Daniel shared a look, they hadn't had the time to put a cover story together.

"We were in a cryogenic unit supported by a zero point energy source isolated by means of."

Sam explained.

"I understand" the Spokesperson said but it was obvious that he didn't, not surprising seeing as Sam had fed them bullshit.

"Are there more?" The small girl interrupted, "Did they put our parents into these cryo-things?" Daniel looked at the small child not sure how too tell her the truth.

"They are from some kind of military. And at least the woman is American. If there are more, emphasis on the if, they're Military as well." The rude boy said.

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

In the mean time Jack and Teal'C had started to secure their temporary base of operation by collecting all key cards and checking the emergency generator.

In Institutions like Hospitals an emergency generator would activate the moment the power fails, but for the SGC, and obviously for this institution as well, this was too great a risk, as sometimes having no energy was the only thing that kept enemies from activating the Stargate and/or messing with the SGC's computer system.

For SG1 that meant that they had a generator that would provide them with energy for at least a month—a year or more if they didn't use the gate.

Jack had already thought about leaving through the gate towards one of their technologically advanced allies in hope of finding them able and willing to help SG1 return home. Sadly this was not one of his most brilliant of plans, as Teal'C had pointed out.

Firstly, they didn't know if the addresses where the same. Secondly, there was no guarantee that they had already met this dimension's SGC. Third, even if they had met there was no guarantee that they were friends… and last, but not least, it would make a target out of them and earth should the Goauld realise that the Tauri had an active Stargate.

So no gate travel for them, at least until they knew for sure that it would be beneficial.

"I did not find the remote O'Neill. It seems as if it was taken off base." Teal'C said. Jack nodded in response.

"Thanks T." Jack looked at the small bag Teal'C was carrying and raised an eyebrow.

"These are medications I saw Janet Fraiser use in the past. I found them in the Hospital above and thought them beneficial." Jack took the bag from the Jaffa and looked over the stuff inside. Most of it he recognised, stuff like Tylenol or penicillin for example.

"You had to go and find the biggest needles they had, didn't you?"

"A true Warrior faces his fears."

"You think I fear Needles?" It was voiced as a statement.

"Indeed."

It was in situations like this that Jack was not sure if the older one was making a joke or being serious, so he decided to let it go.


	2. A new Society

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor The Tribe or anything associated with it.

A/N: You can read this Story even if you do not know The Tribe as the reader will be introduced to the Tribe World at the same time as SG1. I also like to thank Product Of A Sick Society and

ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter.

* * *

Sam and Daniel sat on a pair of old plastic garden chairs next to a wooden table 'decorated' with swearwords and doodles.* It was more or less typical for the tribe society as they had discovered.* Graffiti as a political medium, make up to show tribal solidarity, the cloth and furniture a mix of what was available and what they thought 'cool'. It was all part of a new and ever changing society that while strange, was no less complex than their own.

Daniel was itching to activate his dictaphone but thought it unwise, seeing as batteries had to have scarcity value. He looked at Sam who seemed decidedly uncomfortable as Kathy and Lori, two prepubescent girls, asked question after question about men and pregnancies.

They had to be at the moment, the two tribe members out of the seven or eight that Samantha had met so far, that she liked the least

While Sam was not too thrilled to answer, she also knew that she was most likely the only reliable source of information these girls had.

"I am Jayden, leader of the survivors." A stocky young man said as he introduced himself. Samantha hadn't seen him before and estimated him to be 19 or 20 years old.

"I'm Major Samantha Carter, USAF. This is Dr. Daniel Jackson." She didn't gesture in Daniel's direction, it wasn't necessary.

"USAF ?" He asked.

"That's a stupid Tribe name." Kathy said

"You are stupid. It's not a Tribe name but some sort of military organization thingy." Lori stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How would you..." Kathy was not able to continue her sentence as Jayden sighed and said "Kathy, Lori stop it. I apologise Major Samantha, Doctor Daniel." If the two SG1 members were surprised by the use of title and given name they didn't show it.

"We do not mind it Jayden of the Survivors." Daniel was as diplomatic as ever.

Sam could see that Daniel found the whole discussion quite interesting, and it wasn't really surprising seeing as he was the diplomat of SG1.

"Mark told me how you survived the Virus. And I have to ask if more of you are out there." Jayden stated, worried how dangerous or helpful they might be.

Mark had to be part of the group they had encountered in the street not far from here, how else would he have known their story. Daniel assumed him to be the rude one they talked to the most, as he was relatively sure that the other boy's name was Dylan. At least that was the name the young girl, Jade, _or was it Jane_, had called him by.

"There are two more that we know of, as they are part of our team. But if others were saved in the same way, we do not know." Sam knew she had to be careful with what she was telling him, as it was all too easy to get lost in one's own lies.

"If you could show us the facility we would like to search for information about possible other survivors." Jaden was careful as not to sound too aggressive.

Now it was Daniel turn to lie.

"I fear that this is not possible as we destroyed the entrance as ordered once we emerged from the Facility. There is no way in, and even if there were a way it would not be safe to try. "

"What was the Facility's name? My father was military, so maybe I know something about it." Mark asked as he entered the room, ignoring Jayden who was about to ask his next question.

By the way the others reacted to this situation Sam guessed that this was not the first time this happened.

"I don't know the official name. The code name we were given was Tollana, the commander was a scientist, codename Anis. That is all we know." Sam looked at Daniel with what Jack would call the 'WTF' expression. He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed the word 'Jack' in her direction. It would be best to keep the story as simple as possible and with names Jack was unlikely to forget.

O'Neill was in no way stupid, but he had the tendency to forget names, usually those of planets they visited, and mess up complex stories, so they better be safe than sorry.

Before further questions could be asked Sam's walkie-talkie made some cracking noise and Jack's voice was heard through the Survivors' living room "Carter, this is O'Neill, Lima-Uniform-Delta-7-7-2, do you read?"

While giving Daniel a sign to keep the Teenagers out of listening range she answered "This is Charlie-Bravo-India-9-1-7. Five by five, Sir."

"The situation?" He asked.

"We've made first contact. IFF* is unknown."

"The details?"

"Survivors, approximately 8 people, age range from 8 to 20. Little to no political influence in the area, none city wide. Sir."

"OK. Return by 2000h SGC time. Over."

"Yes Sir. Over and out."

The cracking noise stopped and Sam focused her attention on Daniel who had engaged the teenagers in a discussion about the do's and don'ts of the tribe world. A quick look on her watch told her that she had about two hours before they had to be back in the Hospital.

"We've got to return in approximately two hours, which leaves us with about 30 minutes."

For a moment Daniel was confused, even with them not being a hundred percent sure which way they had to go it would at max take them an hour.

She obviously wanted to make sure the children would not follow them by leading them in the wrong direction and then losing them. He wasn't so sure this would work, as the terrain was unknown to them while the kids had home advantage.

As the survivors heard that their new friends would go, it became hectic.

Kathy and Lori had some last minute questions, Holly was searching for additional make-up she had somewhere that would help SG1 blending in, and Jayden did his best to negotiate future meetings.

For Daniel it was clear that Jayden thought them powerful allies even though they were few in number. Be it because they had weapons and were trained to use them or because they were older and had more knowledge about technology and various other topics, he did not know.

Sam looked at the make-up set Holly, another one of the survivors, had given her. It looked like the one kids would use for Halloween.

"Sam?" Daniel interrupted her in her musings.

"Nothing, Lets go."

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

Both had on the way to the Survivors tried to remember the paths they used but with the children avoiding big streets it was nearly impossible. Daniel had learned that they did this to avoid the Tribe Circus, so the two had to rely on their map.

"We are somewhere here." Sam pointed at Tirangi Rd. and making sure none of the children were near she continued, "And the hospital is there." She now pointed at Riddiford St. "If we go directly that would take us 30 to 40 minutes, but we would have no way to lose them."

Daniel looked at the map, "We could use the wood surrounding Hataitai Park to lose them and go to the Hospital from above rather than below."

"Possibly. Normally I'd say that the area is too small but this is our only changes. This way we can also avoid being seen by too many children. "

Having decided on a route, Sam and Daniel began walking, intent on evading any unwanted tails.

IFF = (identification, friend or foe)


	3. New Information

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor The Tribe or anything associated with it.

A/N: I'd like to thank ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter.

* * *

Jack was pacing around like a tiger in a cage.

It was 2025 h SGC time and Daniel and Sam were late. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as SG1 had standard issue radios but Sam had told him that they would be trying to lose any trackers sent to follow them. Under those circumstances keeping in radio contact was counterproductive.

Trying to distract himself he looked over the list containing their resources.

Food, Medicine and Energy wouldn't be a problem, even though the MRE's tasted like Chicken. They also would have to be careful with their batteries, not because they didn't have enough but because the children didn't and might try to steal theirs.

Looking at his Wally-Talky he decided, that while having a well stocked Military Base as a HQ had it advantages, it didn't help in cases like this.

"Where the f****** hell are they" Jack muttered lowly.

He once more walked past Teal'C, if there was one thing Jack hated then it was waiting while his team was potentially in danger. Jack suddenly turned around and opened the door that separated the NZ SGC, as they called the New Zealand base, from the regular hospital. As he did so he noted that they really needed to find ot what the place was really called. Jack personally thought that NZ SGC just sounded stupid.

"I'll look around outside. Who knows, maybe they got lost in the hospital." He somewhat optimistically said to Teal'c

While both men knew that this was highly unlikely, anything was better than sitting around doing nothing. Jack entered the regular Hospital, closed the door and smiled. There was a small sign next to the door that told anyone who bothered to read it, that the supposed storage room he had exited held important paperwork. In Jack's opinion there was no better way to keep someone at distance than paperwork.

Teal'C sat next to the door waiting, when suddenly his radio crackled with static. "T, we're here." O'Neill's voice said over the channel, loud and clear. Before Teal'C could acknowledge the message the door opened than the rest of SG-1 entered, his team was once more complete.

Teal'c's eyes ghosted over his fellow team members, taking in the fact that Jack looked more relaxed than he had been a mere 5 minutes ago, while Sam and Daniel looked a bit messy. They had obviously to hidden in the forest, meaning they hadn't had as easy a time coming here undetected as they had hoped.

"So Campers, what's the situation?" Jack queried.

Daniel and Sam looked at each other before the archaeologist began to tell Teal'c and Jack about the Sectors, the Tribe system, the Tribe Circus and the Survivors.

"Anything to add, Carter?" O'Neill asked, in what they referred to as his CO voice, looking at her.

Sam nodded, "While the Tribe Circus is undoubtedly the most dangerous Tribe in this area they are by no means the most dangerous in the City."

The Major elaborated on her statement, saying, "From what Holly told me, that honour belongs to a group called the Demon Dogs." She said sarcastically, "Although," Sam continued, "It would seem that the Demon Dogs have been scattered after their leader was killed fighting a new tribe."

"A new tribe?" Teal'C asked

"Kathy told me that there have been sightings of, 'Creepy-looking robe guys that freaked the hell out of everyone'. They even appeared at a meeting of the Council of Tribes." Sam answered.

Jack seemed confused "Council, council…"

"It's a meeting of some influential tribe leaders and their right hand men or women Jack." Daniel interjected wearily, "I told you about this."

"You did?" Jack looked sceptically at Daniel

"Indeed O'Neill" Teal'c validated.

"Whatever. Back to the topic, what about the time issue? We are after all on a different time zone and while I can tell that it is lunchtime I'd like to coordinate our movements more precisely." Jack looked at his XO "Could we use the system time of the PC's?"

"You told me yourself that the whole system only activated after you started the emergency generator. This way the system had to start its synchronisation process which is normally done through a satellite, but..." Carter began explaining, before the colonel interrupted her.

"Yes or No? Carter." He asked impatiently.

"No, sir!" Sam replied, sheepishly. She hated it whenever he had to interrupt her because she once more got off the track.

"Actually, I know the local time." Daniel said, "At least, I assume I do." He temporized.

"How?"

"Well, Wellington is GMT +12 while Colorado Springs is GMT -6. This means that we have to add 18 hours to get the local time. This of course only works if this dimension does have the same amount of seconds to a day." Daniel explained.

"It should have." Sam said, "Even though this seems to be among the remotest dimensions we can reach it still only started to vary in the last 50 or so years. That means that anything that concerns events that are further back in time, like the development of the solar system is identical. A day here would therefore be just as long as a day back home. At most we could have lost a few seconds in transit, but that is highly unlikely.

"OK , whatever. Synchronise your watches, it's now 1451 h local time." Jack ordered.

He was answered by a chorus of replies from his team.

"Yes Sir!"

"Indeed O'Neill..."

"Yes."

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

Jack tried the Halloween make up and decided to use it to conceal his features, smearing different shades of brown and green along his cheeks, across his nose and forehead. The hoody Sam brought back fit but just barely, not surprising, seeing as Carter had guessed his size. He felt stupid wearing the ill-fitting piece of clothing and from the looks of the rest of SG-1, it seemed that they felt the same.

Well Sam and Daniel did. With Teal'C he wasn't sure.

"We need more information. Carter, check the computers and the labs for information concerning the remote and any allies this SGC has. Daniel, I found some documents written in some kind of Ancient text. I've put them on a table in the mirror room." Jack ordered them.

"Yes, Sir." Carter replied in typical military fashion.

"On my way." Daniel chipped in eagerly.

"Teal'c, you and I are going to be checking the video footage of the security cams in the Hospital on the days leading to the shutdown." He told the Jaffa.

*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*

SG-1 was once more divided and silence fell over the base, only interrupted by Carter typing on a keyboard or shuffling through papers in a lab; and by the scraping sound of a pen on paper made by Daniel, or...

"OK," Jack thought, "It's not totally silent." But still, with only SG1 on the base it felt unwelcoming to him.

"Colonel O'Neill, do you read?" Jack's radio crackled a bit, a sound that stopped as soon as he pressed the talk button.

"What's the matter Carter?"

"Sir, there are no Goa'uld in this Dimension." His XO told him.

"What?" Jack exclaimed clearly suprised.

"According to these records APC teams have in all their travels only encountered a handful of species, the Nox, the Tollan and a few others. But every planet that in our dimension that was colonised with slaves abducted from earth is empty. The Gate they use is the one from Antarctica, hidden by the ancients. Over."

"So no snakeheads, that's good news." Jack answered, relieved. "What's an APC team?"

"Their designation for the SGC is APC, Astria Porta Centre, after the Ancients name for the Stargate." Sam replied over the radio.

"Do we have Allies to gate to in case of an emergency?" Jack asked hopefully. Maybe Thor could help them, the Asgard where the most advanced species known to them after all.

"Negative Sir." Sam answered. "They were friendly with a few species but had no alliances. Over"

For a few short seconds there was silence as Jack and Sam thought about what they would do if it ever came to the point when staying was no longer an option.

"This is Daniel. We created the Virus." Another voice intruded on the channel.

"Daniel? Explain!" O'Neill barked, startled by the revelation.

"Well. I'm no chemist but the documents I translated were written by someone we've identified as rouge NID in our universe." Jackson explained. "He writes about experimenting with alien substances to create an immortality drug. From the way he writes this it wasn't his idea. The guy he reported to was an NID we had on our suspect list back home."*

"Great…just what we needed, the bloody NID." Jack sighed. "Anyone at least got good news for me?"

"Indeed O'Neill. This is Tango-India-Foxtrot-2-1-9." Teal'c gave his call-sign blandly, "I believe the remote was taken away by a scientist named Anderson. Over"

"Carter?"

"Found him Sir. Jason Anderson, married to Alyssia Anderson, two sons Martin and Bray both where underage when the virus hit. They were just moving so the system has no current address." The Major answered.

"So now we are searching for two boys of unknown age." Jack groaned. "Peachy just Peachy."

"Do we at least know what they look like?" He added as an afterthought.

"I'll print the Picture." Sam said, "But it is at least two years old, so I don't know how useful it might be."

Nothing interesting happened over the next few days. Sam had shut down every system they didn't need and closed those labs that where potentially dangerous, including the one in which the virus was developed; although Sam promised that without a host it had long since died. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, she could not promise that the virus hadn't mutated and wasn't still active outside the hospital.

All Sam could tell the others was that it was highly unlikely that a mutated virus had a long lifespan. It would most likely be gone within a couple of weeks without anyone to infect. Daniel had finished translating the documents but had not found anything further that could be of interest. Sadly SG-1 hadn't found a better way to disguise their selves and had to rely on the fact that they at least weren't noticeable from afar would help them a bit.

Regardless, rumours about adults were already flowing through the city..

"O'Neill! There is an adolescent in the Hospital."

Jack looked at the screen that Teal'C had pointed at. It seemed as if screen duty had finally paid off.

O'Neill picked up his radio. "Carter, Jackson do you read?"

Jack waited for a response.

"One moment..." Daniel radioed back distractedly."...Yes."

"Colonel, what is it sir?" Carter answered crisply.

"We've got an unidentified Teenager, around 19, spraying a message on one of the walls of the entrance Hall. Get here for possible identification." Jack answered.

"Yes Sir." Carter responded.

"I'm on my way Jack." Daniel added a second later.

It took them a little over three minutes to get to the security room and the boy in the entrance hall was nearly finished.

"I remember seeing this boy. He's one of the Survivors." Sam said while peering at the screen.

"Lachlan" Daniel said, "His name is Lachlan. He's nineteen,his cousin is Holly."

"We didn't see much of him when we were there, but he was the only one of the tribe that didn't seem fascinated with the idea of adults being still alive." Sam added deep in thought, trying to remember as much as possible about the reclusive boy.

"Ok! Daniel, you and I are going upstairs to see what kind of message this kid left." Jack ordered .

The two men departed from the room, leaving Sam and Teal'C to watch the screens. Teal'C made sure that the way Daniel and Jack took was clear while Sam closely watched a recording of the earlier camera footage to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

"Section A3 is clear O'Neill." Teal'c radioed while keeping his eyes on the monitors.

"A4 clear."

Sam looked up."Sir, He left no presents. I repeat, no presents."

"Gotcha, Carter." Jack returned.

Perhaps they were being overly cautious but in Jack's opinion the only real advantages SG-1 had were their experience and the fact that no one knew for sure that they lived here. The two men had reached the Hall and Jack scanned the room with experienced eyes, before he focused on the message that Jackson was reading.

'To: Sam and Dan'

Jack looked at Daniel who cringed and mouthed Lori.

'of the Tollan'

Obviously the Survivors had bought their cover story.

'We need your Help. Holly and Kathy were taken hostage by slave traders on market day in the first warm days since you arrived.

Lachlan'

"Market is every 7 days. The first warm day was 8 days ago and the Market following was three days ago." Daniel supplied upon seeing Jack's baffled expression.

"But why not simply say so?" Jack asked.

"They don't have a calendar to determine the actual day and they had no way to know when we would find the message. Quite a few people have seen us in this area, together with the fact that Sam bandaged up a kid a few nights back they most likely assumed that we were here at least once and might come back again. The probably have already marked every medical praxis in this area."

Jack nodded "Go back and keep an eye on the cameras."

He activated his radio, and told the other's what they had discovered.

"You guys and I will try to get some info about the slave traders." Jack ordered, "Over and out."

He took out the chalk that was part of the standard SGC field pack and wrote: 'We will. Jack of the Tollan'


	4. Search and rescue mission

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor The Tribe or anything associated with it.

A/N: I'd like to thank ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter

* * *

It was three hours later and so far they had nothing.

Sam had gone to the Survivors but neither Lori nor Mark, who were the only ones at their base, had any further information.

"This is Tango-India-Foxtrot-2-1-9. Jack O'Neill, I have found us a guide. MollyTribeless has offered to guide us to the Traders in exchange for food and water." Teal'c's voice said over the radio.

Switching to his radio's command channel, Jack spoke to the rest of SG-1.

"Everyone, team meeting in 10 minutes at the alpha site."

They knew that they were not invulnerable and that they might not be able to protect their base, so they had started their very own alpha site where they hoarded extra resources like a few MRE's, some water, medicine and spare ammunition. They thought about hiding weapons as well but thought it to dangerous a risk if some of the children found the base.

Jack was the first there and began to dig up one ration of food and a bottle of water before once again burying their hidden cache.

*'*'*'*

He was not a moment too soon, as Teal'C and Molly arrived only seconds after he was done followed by Sam.

Daniel was the last too joined them.

Looking at the girl, Teal'c had brought in, Jack addressed her, "Molly? This is your food and water. You'll get it as soon as we've verified that your information is correct." He said, pointing at the bottle and the MRE Sam was packing into her backpack.

The girl, looking every bit the street urchin with her dirty cloth and unkempt brown hair, watched the bag hungrily and sneered. "As long as you make sure you keep up old man. I've got no intention of waiting Gramps."

Saying this she stormed off with SG1 following behind, trying to memorise the way they took them some time to reach what Molly called the 'Native Forest' the outskirts of which they followed until they could see a camp in the distance.

"That's the Traders camp. The big tent with the foxtail on top of it belongs to Jake. He's a cheating son of a bitch." The young woman bit off with a snarl.

SG1 nodded, clearly aware from the girl's agitation that Molly had some personal history with this Jake.

*'*'*'*

Sam entered the forest in an attempt to sneak closer to the camp using the trees for cover and remaining unseen. In the meantime Jack was nursing a headache. He had always thought that he got along great with kids, but Molly was obviously the exception of the rule as she got on his nerves, big-time.

Molloy eyed Daniel lecherously, "Yo Geeky. Ever had a hot mouth on…"

Jack put his hand over her mouth.

Enough was enough...

"Listen Molly," He said in a strained tone, "I can imagine that this is boring for you and realize that time on the streets hasn't done your vocabulary and behaviour any favours. But please behave a little less like a whore and more like a fifteen," "Sixteen" Molly said, clearly unhappy about being thought younger.

"Sixteen year old."

She looked at Jack, before she turned around to glare at a red faced Daniel and a stoic looking Teal'C.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Gramps." Jack rolled his eyes and hoped Sam wouldn't take too much longer.

He got his wish when only a few minutes later Sam came back and confirmed that Kathy and Holly were among the slaves at the camp. As a result, Molly was given the MRE and her Water and send on her way. They had Teal'C follow her discreetly for a while to make sure she didn't suddenly change her mind and decide to warn the slavers. In the meantime, while Teal'c was gone, the rest of SG1 was planning the best course of action to free the slaves.

*'*'*'*

They were hiding among the trees waiting for the sun to set. With a look at the rapidly darkening sky Jack gave a quick signal at Sam and Teal'C who began to sneak near the slaves, trying to avoid the campfires.

In the mean time Jack and Daniel waited, ready to act should something go wrong or to welcome the slaves should everything go right. Jack looked through his night vision lens, alternating between focusing on the slaves and watching on the guards positioned by the fires. Then he saw Sam cutting the shackles on the last slave. Already the other captives were running in their direction as quietly as possible.

Looking at Daniel he saw that the first girl had arrived and was being lead further into the forest, when he suddenly heard a short scream. Looking back at the camp he saw that Kathy had fallen and was now helped up by Holly. Acting fast he threw a smoke grenade into the middle of the camp to make it impossible to find the slaves with the light emitted by the fires. The camp itself was in bedlam as all hell broke loose and it wasn't long till everybody there was awake.

A brutish looking man, or perhaps a boy, raced after the escaping slaves only to meet Carter who stopped him by breaking his leg with her rifle. Turning around she stunned a young woman, who was trying to throw a torch at her, with her Zat. Seeing the grass catching fire, Sam ran over to extinguish it, while cursing the stupidity of the girl. Teal'c in the meantime had taken two Traders by surprise and knocked them down from behind.

*'*'*'*

Holly and Kathy were the last to arrive in the forest and Jack wasted no time to guiding them further, following the tracks Daniel and the others had created, while Sam and Teal'C did their best to destroy the trace without using their flashlights. They could only hope that it was enough.

"Who are you and why did you help us?" One of the girls asked, obviously not believing that someone would risk their lives without at least hoping to gain an advantage doing so.

"They are the Tollan." Kathy told eco-girl as Jack had, based on her clothes, titled her in his mind.

"I don't know those two" She pointed at Jack and Teal'C "are but these are Sam and Dan."

Feeling the need to add something Holly said "They are friends!"

"I'll trust you….for now." Looking at each of them she added "I'm Rose of the eco-tribe."

Jack nearly snorted in laughter.

"Jack of the Tollan. My big buddy over there is Teal'C" Daniel in the meantime was busy asking Holly how the two of them had been caught.

"They told me they had information about my sister, her names Ivy." Daniel got the feeling that she wanted to say more about it and gave her a sign of encouragement to continue. "She was on a class trip during the outbreak of the virus. The installation of quarantine sectors kept her from returning home...I haven't seen her in over one and a half years."

"Tell me about her." Daniel, having lost his wife first to the Goa'uld and then to death, knew how it felt to have a loved one missing, not knowing if they were still alive; not knowing if they would ever be reunited.

"She was 14 and really excited about the class trip. Our parents...they, they loved plants and Ivy inherited that." A sad smile graced her lips as she told Daniel what happened back then…

"She was all for the rights of plants and stuff. I used to make fun of that, called her Poison Ivy. After that Batman villain, you know?" Daniel nodded; he had read the comic as a kid.

"She would have turned fifteen on the trip, and we had a surprise party planned for when she returned. But then the virus hit and she didn't come home, the military didn't allow anyone to leave or enter the city. Mum…she was the first to die." Holly sighted "I promised her I would find Ivy, that I would protect her…" She looked down on her feet as if they where the most interesting thing in the world.

Eventually, Holly turned her perceptive eyes on Daniel "Who did you lose…" She asked softly.

"My Parents, when I was a boy. My wife, I lost her first to Terrorists and when we finally freed her… she died." He gave her a sad smile as he picked a bit of wood out of her long blond hair.

"You'll find her." Daniel promised, "One day, you'll find her."

As the children were in no condition to return to their Tribes or the City centre Rose offered to take them to her tribe, as it was located nearby. Her tribe leader 'Eagle', she said, wouldn't mind when she heard the story. For a moment Jack played with the idea of a Xena-style Amazon tribe but from what Rose had told them about 'Pride', who was her teacher, he guessed that this was not the case.

They wandered for a time, along a small river that lead, as Rose explained, towards an artificial lake. Jack was impressed with the foresight this bunch of city kids had shown when they choose this place as a new home. Daniel and Sam obviously thought the same, as he could hear them talking about something Daniel called a "back to nature" development.

"O'Neill. There is a settlement in south-southwest, half a klick from our position." Teal'c said, having scouted ahead.

"What's a Clic?" Kathy, who was walking behind Jack, asked.

"Klick is a military distance measurement method. It equals a kilometre or 0.62 miles." Jack said while looking for Rose.

"That your tribe or someone else?" He asked.

"The Eco's are the only tribe this far into the forest. Other tribes like the Traders only frequent the outer parts." Rose replied.

Jack squinted at her, "That means Yes?"

"Yes!" The young woman snapped.

O'Neill smirked, "Good"

*'*'*'*

Sam smiled as she heard the small dialogue. Jack and Rose would either get a long great or hate each other with a passion; she wasn't sure which one it would be but guessed that she would find out soon enough. After all Jack was never subtle when he hated someone, Kinsey and Anise where the best example for that.

"Rose, you and I will go and meet this Eagle." Rose looked at Jack with what could only be described as a 'huh?' expression.

"We could of course overwhelm her by storming in there as a group but I thought that maybe.." He started but was soon interrupted by Rose.

"First of all, who died and made you boss?" She said hotly. He grinned at her like a cat that caught the canary.

"So you'd rather.."

"No!" Rose turned around and walked towards the eco camp "You coming?"

Jack, still grinning, gave a sign to the rest of his Team. "Teal'c, you'll follow discreetly. Carter, you and Daniel watch over the group. Wait till Teal'c contacts you before acting. "

Teal'c nodded signalling his approval.

"Yes Sir." Sam said, "But may I suggest taking Daniel with you? Not to be disrespectful but he is a better Diplomat."

"Either Jack or Daniel" Rose screamed as she continued walking away from them. Well if you could call it walking because she had slowed down as much as possible to wait for Jack without actually to be waiting. "We don't want to startle them."

Jack rolled his eyes "Do your thing Daniel." Tipping his hand against his radiohe added "Check in every 15 Minutes"

"You're wasting battery's on that?" One of the kids asked flabbergasted.

"Correction, we're using batteries on that." He said it in a tone that allowed no objection.


	5. Meeting the Eco Tribe

Disclaimer: Same as for the last chapters.

A/N: I'd like to thank ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter and I'd also like to thank those that read this Fanfiction

* * *

Daniel and Rose were walking slowly with their hands held up high as they entered the camp. As Daniel looked around he realised that 'camp' was not the right expression. This was because what Daniel saw in the glow of the fires reminded him more of a Maori village than the refugee camp he expected.

'They don't survive, they live.' He thought as he watched an older boy teach a younger one how to read.

"We mean no harm." Daniel held up his hands just a bit higher as he said that, while Rose, having enough of this nonsense took down her own.

"ROSE!" A boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old, screamed as he ran towards them.

"Mickey. God I missed you" Rose smiled as she embraced the boy.

They looked happy and Daniel asked himself what kind of relationship they might have.

"You where gone for quite a while." The voice came from behind Daniel and he turned to face her.

Walking towards them was a blond woman, dressed in a get up that was strange, even for the tribe society. She had her hair pined up to knots and was dressed in a blue bodysuit, that was liberally decorated with feathers.

"Not voluntarily." Explained Rose as her hand continued gliding up and down the young boys back. "I was taken by the Traders on my way into the City. Daniel" here she pointed at her companion "and his team freed me and the others earlier tonight."

"We are indebted to you Daniel." The blond woman voiced her believe, while her face was graced by a small smile. "But please, tell me everything."

"It is late." The Archaeologist explained as looked up to the dark sky. "And the way back into the city is long." He added now focusing on the blond woman he assumed to be Eagle.

"The children we rescued need a place to stay for the night and Rose suggested your village."

For a moment there was no reaction, but then she called for Pride, the boy who taught Rose if Daniel remembered correctly. His get up was normal, or at least normal as far as it concerned the tribe society.

With his black combat boots, the grey-black camouflage pants, grey black shirt and long black dreadlocks he blended in with his surroundings far better than Eagle.

"Pride, take two of the others and gather as many blankets as we can spare and all the drinkable water. Rose will show you the way." Pride didn't seem happy about leaving her alone in Daniel's presence, but he left without a word, followed by Rose.

In the meantime Eagle had focused on Mickey. "Go and tell Nelly that tomorrow we will have to boil more water than usual."

Two of the older tribe members had, in the meantime come closer and Eagle gestured them to her.

"These two are Lily and Don. They will guard you tonight."

The 'to make sure you don't attack us' was left unsaid.

*'*'*'*'*

It was dawn and the eco's were already up and working. From catching fish and boiling water to repairing cloth, the duties were varied and it reminded him of pre-industrialised villages around the world.

"You are coping very well. It's...it's impressive how you rediscover skills and organise everything." And it was, as Daniel couldn't imagine that someone had taught these children how to catch a rabbit. Looking around he focused on the school where one of the older children thought six of the younger ones how to build a trap.

"We were not totally without knowledge and we had the time to utilise it." Eagle explained.

"We have improved and still are improving our skills, especially the fighting and teaching skills."

Eagle was proud of her tribe, it showed clearly in the way she spoke about it.

"You teach fighting?" He shouldn't have been surprised, while the eco's were peaceful the tribe society as a whole was not.

"Survival of the fittest. We do not want war, but we want to survive."

*'*'*'**'*'*'*

In the meantime Jack had arranged a meeting of those that were freed the night before. "From what Rose told me we are here" He illuminated while pointing on his map.

"That gives us two possible ways back to the city."

He was now pointing inside the forest.

"This way. North-North-East through the forest."

Slightly changing the angle he now pointed at a different part of the forest.

"Or that way. East towards the street and then north towards the city."

Looking at the children he continued.

"If anyone of you is hurt in a way that complicates walking you need to let me know. Because then, and only then, we will take the way east."

"Why? It's obviously more comfortable." One of the boys asked.

"Because the traders camp is East North-East." Sam explained, showing him the mapwere she had marked the camp the night before.

"But would we.." the one of the girls began but Sam interrupted her.

"We wouldn't necessarily encounter them but we don't want to take risks if it is avoidable."

"Carter will walk in front while Teal'C will guard our rear and Daniel and I remain with the group." Jack said to continued Sam's explanation.

Chaos erupted as everyone tried to talk to everyone else and it just didn't seem to stop.

"OK Guys." Jack started only to interrupt himself.

"SILENCE!"

That had the desired effect as everyone stopped talking.

"OK Guys" Jack started once more. "We're meeting again in fifteen minutes. Be ready by then. Carter !"

"Yes Sir."

"Go and search for Daniel." He turned to face the Jaffa "T, you and I will search for Eagle."

"That will not be necessary." Teal'C replied before turning his head to indicate towards the village, from which Daniel and Eagle where emerging.

"You will be leaving?" The leader of the Ecos asked as she reached the rest of SG1.

"In about 13 minutes" Jack replied, "You are ready Daniel?"

The Archaeologist nodded "Yes. But there is something Eagle wants to talk to you about."

"I am able to speak for myself." Eagle looked sternly at Daniel as she said this, before turning to the Colonel while Daniel's face had turned a nice shade of red.

"Your Tribe may be small but you are rich in skills and medical recourses. We on the other hand can provide manpower and food. As one has what the other needs I'd like to propose a tribe alliance."


	6. Negotiation and new Information

Disclaimer: I own neither Stargate nor The Tribe or anything associated with it.

A/N: I'd like to thank ToBetasered for betareading this Chapter

* * *

Jack had known that to survive they would need an ally more powerful than the Survivors. The Eco's where such a tribe, or at least they had the potential to be with a bit of help from the outside.

SG1 intended to give them this help. That was actually one of the reasons why they had decided to accept the proposition of the Eco's two weeks ago. It was also the reason as to why they were near the city waiting for Eagle and Pride to arrive, even though Eagle had been really twitchy when Jack had proposed this spot as a meeting place.

Daniel had guessed it to be because of past trauma due to either, the virus and the revolts that happened as the adults lost control over the city or because of some kind of tribe war. It wasn't too surprising; Eagle wasn't the first and clearly wouldn't be the last of her generation to express the symptoms.

"As promised we bring medicine and condoms" Jack said as the two Ecos arrived.

"And you will get fish, bread and drinkable water in return" Eagle answered as she dropped the basked containing the goods before Jack's feet.

As Daniel insisted that Sam was better at negotiating than the Colonel it was decided that she would ask for Eagle's help.

"These" She showed the picture they had found in Doctor Andersons private quarter at the APC. "Are Jason and Alyssia Anderson with their two sons Martin and Bray."

Sam looked Eagle directly into the eyes as she continued.

"We need to know if you have seen them either inside or outside the City."

While Pride didn't seem to recognize the Children Eagle obviously did.

"Why?" She asked clearly suspicious.

"I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is that this information is of utter most importance to us."

Eagle didn't look totally convinced but as she didn't want to anger their new ally.

"I haven't seen Bray in a few month and Martin is dead." She said.

"Where?"

"Sorry. It would be the best to ask for Bray of the Mallrats and Zoot of the Locos."

The names weren't new to them as Daniel had spoken of the Mallrats in context of the Tribe Circus and everyone knew the Locos.

"You didn't recognize Zoot." Sam told Pride, "And neither did the others we asked. With such a prominent, if deceased, tribe leader that's highly unlikely."

It was Eagle that answered to the unasked 'why?'.

"He looked different, white eyes, dreadlocks..." She gave a shrug, "Most people only saw him from afar, driving by in his modified Police Car."

"But you recognized him!" Carter said, sounded a bit accusing.

For a moment both of the woman said nothing as the wind blew an old newspaper down the street and swearwords could be heard out of a nearby alley.

"I recognized Bray. But I see you changed your style as well Sam…. It suits you." Eagle obviously didn't want to talk about the Mallrats.

Sam looked down at herself. On the way back to the City she had ruined her 'I love NZ' Hoody and Holly had promised her a new outfit.

It was comfortable and it helped her blend in. She just wasn't sure if she really liked it.

The boots were her own military issue, and therefore alright but the Brown fishnet tights and shorts, as well as the green Tank-Top with the Stargate Symbol for Earth on the back where a bit much.

Never the less, she looked more like a typical member of the Tribe society, as far as such a person exists, and that was all that mattered.

**'

"Teal'C, this is Carter. Do you read?"

"Indeed." The Jaffa's voice replied over the radio.

"Eagle recognised the Children. Bray's last known affiliation was with the Mallrats, while Martin's was with the Locos under the alias of Zoot. Bray's stratus is unknown while Martin's is confirmed as dead." Sam explained.

"Understood."

"The Mallrats location is..." Carter looked at Eagle who answered after a short pause, "Sector 10"

Sam nodded in thanks at the younger woman,"... Sector 10, Carter out."

"Confirmed" Teal'C answered before he shut down his own radio. They already knew that the Locos last confirmed Location had been a Building known to the Children as 'Ebonys Palace' in Sector 9. The question that remained was which of the children had the Remote or if it had remained in the Anderson home, where ever that was.

Jack was busy staring at a Simpson sketching someone had painted onto a nearby Wall as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, or like Daniel when he discovered some ancient writing, it was her turn to handle the situation.

"We would like to propose an additional deal." Eagle suddenly exclaimed.

"You would provide training for our tribe. Medical, tactical and fighting."

The look in her eyes would have fit better if she was a trained soldier, or a child in a warzone Sam thought bitter.

"And we get what exactly?" asked Jack who had enough Itchy and Scratchy for a day.

"Information. Persons, tribes, politics, locations, the virus... what ever you need, if we can provide it we will..."

The emphasis was clearly on the locations and on the virus which irritated Sam as she had, after seeing the newspaper, assumed that the public was mostly kept in the dark.

"No Guns." That was Jacks way of saying OK.

"No Guns!" Eagle agreed.

"Great." Jack looked like a Cat who caught the canary. "You can start with telling us as to why you do not wish to speak about the Mallrats."

It's needless to say that Eagle left quite fast after this, telling them to await Pride and a few of the others, with whatever they had on the virus, in a week's time.

The meeting place would be the same as today, around noon.

**'

"This is Charlie-Bravo-India-9-1-7. Teal'C do you read?"

"Indeed Major Carter, I do." Teal'C responded and Sam's radio crackled a bit as he talked.

"Eagle seems to have some kind of connection to the Mallrats. I want you to ask them about her, no names, only her description. If she has a reason to keep away from them we don't want to endanger her."

"Understood." While Sam and Teal'C finished their Talk Jack muttered something about 'Teenage Angst' before he reminded himself that Eagle, Pride and many of the others where grown up well beyond their physical age. Growing up in a warzone did this to children he had seen it often enough during his time working in black ops.

A stone flew in Jacks direction and as he turned around to catch the culprit but he only saw his back as he ran away. That was one of the things he hated about the 'tribe society', as Daniel called it, the needless fear of the mutated virus coming back, but also of adults destroying their carefully balanced society. It was fragile he realised. The whole society, the tribes, the truces it was all based on a fragile understanding of who was in control.

If someone like Zoot could control it with fear and someone like the Mallrats could control them with knowledge about the antidote, what could someone do who had both knowledge and Power?

Just as in his universe money, recourses, knowledge, manpower and connections decided who was in control.

But the definition was different.

Money was equal with tradable objects; recourses didn't mean oil or gold but food, water and energy; knowledge about science was replaced with knowledge about survival and protection.

He who generates Energy is King.

Instead of Soldiers street fighters defined the manpower and connections more often than not meant 'didn't we go to school together?'.

Jack grinned, learn the definition, learn the language.

He could do that.

Sam saw the grin on her CO's face, assuming correctly that he had discovered something that might help them.

He was good when it came to things like that.

While he was no scientist and by God no diplomat he understood wishes, needs and whatever else drives a Human. It was of course part training and part father's instinct that helped him there.

Scaara and Teal'C where only two examples.

"Sir?"

"Let's go home Carter."


	7. Mallrats and other new friends

Disclaimer: Same same

A/N: Same Same ^^

* * *

Approximately 3 hours later and a few miles away Teal'C was looking through the window of the building that was once was the Phoenix Mall. It looked shabby.

He observed the main hall and the entrance to what he assumed to be a kitchen.

A few children he hadn't seen before entered the kitchen, but up until know nobody had entered or leaved the building.

At first Teal'c had thought that they were simply leaving the kitchen for another room that he couldn't see but then he saw one of the missing Mallrats walking around outside without leaving through either the front entrance or the garage.

"Colonel O'Neill, I have observed the Phoenix Mall. It would appear that the Mallrats have closed the main entrances in favour of using a third, hidden entrance."

His radio crackled as Jack replied.

"Good work, Teal'c. Try to find us a way in and if possible plant a listening device just in case."

Teal'c had guessed correctly that there had to be a third, hidden, entrance. He followed a black haired girl and a boy through the sewers into the mall. Given the descriptions he got on the street, they seemed to be Danni, Co-Leader of the Mallrats and the one they were looking for, Bray.

Teal'c had to admit that the Mallrats were rather careful to make sure that no one was following them but the former First Prime was a better trained and more experienced tracker. Once inside the mall he placed a small listening device, that used a coded SGC frequency, near the entrance to the kitchen.

He then hid himself to assess the situation.

*'*'*'

Inside of the kitchen were Bray, Danni and another boy and girl. The two girls, were sitting a bit to the side while Bray was standing with his back to the door, facing the other boy who had shoulder length black hair and was loungeing on a nearby chair.

"We will need security if we are to get through with the meeting of the Tribe Leaders." Bray said while looking around the room."Lex could you.." He started to ask, while looking at the boy in the chair.

"Come on man, it's my honeymoon." Lex exclaimed, the red and black stripe of make-up painted verticallly on the right side of his face did little to hide the fact that he was clearly not interested in taking the job.

"Look, I'm really sorry Lex." Bray apologised. "But there is nobody else."

"Ryan" Lex suggested trying to get Bray to choose someone else.

"Isn't he on a honeymoon too?" replied Bray, not impressed by Lex's attempt at getting out of the responsibility. Lex was, as far as Teal'C could tell, the Mallrats security officer. "Besides," Bray added, "The whole thing needs organizing and Ryan, well .."

Left unspoken by Bray was the fact that Ryan wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

"That is bad planning man, seriously…" Lex said while brushing his hand through his hair. "You knew I was getting married and you still decided to plan this Tribe Leader get together even though you knew you would need security." He accused Bray, getting angrier by the minute. For a moment Teal'C thought that this might lead to a full-blown argument. However; the Asian girl, who had been silent until then, decided to join the conversation.

"Lex." She said soothingly, walking behind the boy she let her hands glide over his shoulders in a calming gesture. "I don't think that Bray did it on purpose. Besides-" and she smiled with a cunning that Teal'c noted. "Bray obviously things you are the best man, otherwise he wouldn't ask."

Lex still didn't look convinced but the girl had another argument ready.

"Look, I could accompany you if you want."

"No! It's too dangerous Tai-San!" Lex turned around to face the young woman, whom Teal'c now identified as Lex's wife from their conversation.

"I can look after myself!" said Tai-San defensively.

Personally it seemed that Lex agreed, but that didn't mean that he liked putting her in danger. From initial observation Teal'c thought that they were an interesting Tribe, far less balanced than the Survivors and less hierarchically structured and respectful than the Eco tribe. Looking at the situation Teal'c understood that the Mallrats seemed to have more dominant personalities within the group which accounted for the bickering.

"I'll do it, but my wife stays here. It wouldn't do to have both of us working on our honeymoon, now wouldn't it Bray?" Lex said as he turned back to the other boy.

Teal'C decided that it would be better to show himself now as they most likely would see him anyway if they where to leaving.

"BrayAnderson! I need to speak with you." Teal'C exclaimed as he left his hiding place.

From one moment to the next he was at the center of attention as the four attending mallrats focused solely on him.

"Who the fuck are you?" Lex was the first to speak, but Bray was not far behind as he asked how he got inside the mall.

"I followed you and the girl, Danni?" Teal'c replied.

Bray nodded, silently realizing why he had felt monitored on the way back to the mall.

"You belong to the Tollan, the adult tribe." Claimed Tai-San, as she gave Teal'c a once over.

"Indeed! BrayAnderson, your father DoctorJasonAnderson took a device from the facility where he worked at. We believe either you or your brother to be in position of said device." The Jaffa said.

For a moment Bray looked confused.

"My father worked at deep space radar telemetry."

"APC." It was Danni who said that. "That was the cover story for the APC. My father worked there as a transfer from the NID he…" Teal'C didn't need to hear more knowing that she was obviously Daniela Wilks, the daughter of one of the Scientists responsible for the Virus.

"You mean he worked on the virus?" Bray asked Danni before he turned to Teal'C.

"Not to our knowledge." Teal'C answered in her stead. "But he did work with an artifact that we need." That seemed to be what Bray needed to remember. "The remote!" "Correct."

"How did you know where to find Bray." Lex asked suspiciously.

"DoctorAnderson had a family picture which we used to get a positive identification from the other tribes."

Bray nodded even though Lex didn't look satisfied. Danni in the meantime had stood up and hugged her boyfriend from behind. Bray clearly needed the support.

"I don't have it. After my parents died Martin," He stopped for a moment. "Zoot, he took the remote, called it his way to power... I don't know where it is."

For a few minutes nobody said anything and Danni, trying to get the focus back to the problem that had started the whole conversation, asked Teal'C whether or not his Tribe Leader would attend the meeting this afternoon.

"I will have to ask." Teal'C said before he took his radio to inform Colonel O'Neill.

As Danni, Bray, Lex and Tai San retreated to give him privacy Teal'C told Jack about the Tribe Leader meeting and was in return informed that Daniel, as the Diplomat of SG1, would attend the meeting.

*'*'*'*

It was a few minutes later that Bray, Lex, Danni, Teal'C and Daniel stood in front of the warehouse that would house the meeting. Danni and Bray where talking to each other while Lex told Teal'C about his plans to secure the building.

One after another the Tribe Leaders arrived and entered the building peacefully, that was till someone decided that he didn't like Daniel attending and threw a stone out of a nearby bush.

"Take Daniel inside. I will talk to the guy." Bray said as he saw that Lex hadn't seen anything and he didn't know how violent Teal'C, whom he guessed to be a very dangerous individual, would get.

Looking around for the culprit Bray saw three mallrats, namely Patsy, Cloe and Ryan, as well as cloudy the dog, running towards them.

"What's it, what happened." Bray asked as soon as they stopped.

"The meeting. Don'tgothereitsatrap." Cloe told them breathlessly.

"What?" Bray hoped that he misunderstood the girl.

"It's a trap." Patsy exclaimed. "The Chosen, they're after all the Tribe Leaders!" She tried to explain the situation as good as she could while being just as breathless as her best friend.

Lex obviously didn't believe them "You're Loony, you know that." He looked as if he wanted to say that Bray would be just as loony if he believed the girls.

"Why didn't you stop them Ryan?" He now focused on the Boy with the blonde dyed hair.

"They were screaming and told me it was important. I thought I should follow them, just in case."

"We should at least warn the Leaders about a possible trap" Teal'C said and Bray who understood the possible danger that the Chosen meant for Danni and the others agreed.

"You guys take cover in nearby buildings." He told Patsy and Cloe, "Teal'C and I will warn the Leaders."

"I do believe that it is too late for that." It was Teal'C who said that as he pointed at the roped and scythe carrying persons coming nearer, while Lex and Ryan who had also seen the danger had stopped Bray from running inside.

"Let's get the hell out of here" Lex hissed into Brays ear as he and Ryan tried to drag the other boy away from the entrance and into a nearby hiding place. It wouldn't do if they where caught as well.

They barely made it as a man with shoulder length blond hair and wearing a white robe entered the clearing in front of the building. It was the Guardian, the Leader of the Chosen.

With him where the typical male blue robed members with their short blue dyed hair as well as some blue robed, long haired woman.

Two of those where carrying sticks with a burning 'Z' on top of them.

"Zoot" Bray hissed as he saw them.

Teal'C understood, from what he knew about the Chosen and the Locos, Zoot was somewhat of a Mythical figure within the City, and religious fanaticism would explain at least some of the actions that had been attributed to the Chosen.

"So it wasn't Ebony at all, it was Trudy who was with them all along."

Lex exclaimed angrily after Cloe told them of Trudy's betrayal.

"And didn't I say she couldn't be trusted. But no one listened to me." Lex said as they retreated to a more secure location, as members of the Chosen where patrolling outside of the building, making sure that no one could enter.

"Lex I'm trying to think!" Bray was clearly distressed by the thoughts about the danger Danni was in but Lex didn't even think about stopping.

"She just turns up out of the blue. Says she escaped the chosen, not a mark on her.." Lex pointed with his finger as he accused Bray and the absent Mallrats of being responsible for the whole mess.

Teal'C realizing that this might be important focused on Lex before he asked who Ebony and Trudy where and what this had to do with the current situation.

"Ebony is the former Co-Leader of the Locos and Trudy is a Mallrat and the mother of Brady, Zoots daughter." Ryan explained as no one else seemed willing to do so.

"We thought Ebony was the Traitor, as Trudy was taken Hostage by the Chosen. Seems as if it was a scam all along and Trudy just wanted to get Ebony out of the way. Stupid Bi*** !" Lex continued angrily but was no longer focused on Bray.

"But what I don't get is why she did it." Ryan mumbled.

"Please continue." Teal'c said, stopping Lex from starting another argument.

"If we found out she would have lost Brady. It's too risky!" What Ryan said sounded true, as at least the Mallrats couldn't imagine Trudy giving up her Child.

"But that's the Point." It was Cloe who answered the unasked 'Why?'.

"The child is a boy. That's why she let's no one near her. It isn't Brady. "

None of the Mallrats knew how to response to this situation.

"We need to figure out how to rescue Danni and DanielJackson. What do you know of the Chosen that could be used to our advantage?" Teal'C asked, getting the focus of the group back to the problem at hand.

In the Meantime Daniel had just seated himself in the circle that was formed by the Tribe Leaders as the Doors opened and the Blue dressed people flocked inside.

Shock was evident on the faces of those who had believed the Chosen to be defeated.

"This is a closed meeting" Danni exclaimed as she faced the Guardian, her black hair falling in her face.

Clearly unimpressed the Guardian merely signed his troops to stop before he crossed his arms above his head in what most of the people present identified as Zoot's 'Power and Chaos' gesture, before he slowly put them down as if he was praying.

Danni, as well as some of the others, where clearly disturbed by now.

The Guardian gave another sign and his followers started to order the Tribe Leaders into a row that he walked up and down as he started his speech.

"Since the fall of the Locos you have fought a futile war for control of this City." His voice sounded loud and clear, if a bit pompous, through the building.

"The streets echo with your battle cries." He now focused on the one the leader of one of the more violent Tribes.

"But who among you has profited from this." If the situation hadn't been so serious Daniel would have laughed, the Guardian sounded like a salesman or an especially cheesy Politician.

"Do you live like Kings? NO! You Live like Rats." He focused on Danni as he said Rats, disgust clearly in his voice and eyes.

"We don't have to take this." Danni exclaimed, disgusted by her fellow Tribe Leaders lack of resistance.

"She's right. We don't have to cover in front of a Madman with delusions of grandeur." Daniel felt as if he had channeled Jack as he said it.

It reminded him a bit of all the times they had been cought and brought before an Goa'uld System Lord. The Guardian clearly was just as delusional as as some of them, and just as dramatic.

"I offer you one City; one Nation under Zoot." The Guardian exclaimed as if neither Danni nor Daniel had challenged his exclamations. He reminded Daniel more and more of the dictators of the Past.

"Together we can spread his message to the furthest region of the planet."

Daniel was disgusted, what the Guardian wanted was a World War and Total control, just like the Go' auld or some of the Dictators of the past. It was sick seeing people who should have learned through history fall for the same schemes once more.

Danni once more tried to get the people to reconsider.

"Don't listen to this garbage, he's crazy."

"What's in for us?" One of the Leaders, Daniel didn't know his name, asked, clearly considering the Guardians offer.

"Zoot cares for his followers, we are all his Children. You will get control of small sectores, parts of the whole."

Daniel snorted. From what he knew Zoot had been a typical child before the virus hit, years younger than some of the other Children present.

"And if we refuse?" Daniel asked trying to get the Guardian to lose his focus. Teal'C and some of the Mallrats where hidden outside. They would free them, that, he was sure about.

The Guardian grinned at him as he signaled his men to bring some gasoline and cover the ground with it.

"Zoot gives all of you a chance. Zoot be praised."

And before Dannis and Daniels eyes one after another the Tribe Leaders repeated "Zoot be praised" only to be forced on their knees.

"He is bluffing. Don't you see? If he goes forward with this, he starts a war no one can win."

Danni was all but crying as she tried to get the others to once more see sense and stop throwing away their hope.

"A war? I would prefer crusade." He exclaimed, his whole being bathing in the feeling of superiority.

At the same time on the outside of the building Teal'C and the Mallrats, minus Patsy and Cloe who had returned to the Mall to warn the others, had decided on a smash and grab strategy as the doors opened and Danni, as well as Daniel where taken outside by at least 30 Chosen armed with scythes.

Before the Chosen could lead the other Tribe leaders out as well one of the door guards saw the hidden group and alarmed the others.

It was time for a retreat.

*'*'*'


End file.
